Is Google Devaluing Blogs & YouTube?

[hermosa]

I've been blogging for 3 years. I blog more than any competitor. If you seatch Blue Widgits Blogs, my blogs are #1. If you search Blue Widits My City, articles that I have done about Blue Widgits in my city are near the bottom of the rankings. Youtube videos about Blue Widgits My City that used to be on page 1 now appear on page 8. What's going on?

[The Shower Scene]

999,999 out of a million, it's better if YOU tell us a little more about your site so that we can then tell you what's going on. Usually it's crap content and/or promotion. But not all the time.

No offense intended, but most people who post these kinds of posts are in a scary level of denial. I'm not saying you are, but that's where all the OTHERS are.

If you want more specific advice, then you will have to provide more specific details about how you promoted your site and how the content came about. Other than that, I and we can only assume. So give us more details and you will receive a more specific response.

Good luck.

[indyank]

i don't think you can post your URL here. You can only say what type of content it is and whether it is all original and high quality.

But "original", high quality" etc. are all terms promoted by google recently and no one knows what their real definitions are.

I am sure that no one can post any specific response to this query of yours and all that people will do is either guess or say that your content sucks.

No one really has much clue about all the recent algo changes by google.

[Novus]

I dont think they are devaluing blogs, I do think they are "trying" rank them better. My blog doesnt show up much in general serps and its been showing up less and less as the year goes on. But under the blog tabs its quite visable.

If I have a post/page about "Red widgets" my blog tends not to show up for the search term "widget" in the serps( regardless of how i optmize it). However in "blogs" it shows up fine

I feel like they are compartmentalizing far more then they used to

[mhansen]

I don't think it has anything to do with blog or being a blog, in my opinion (and its just that) you are seeing a drop due to the local aspect.

Blue Widits My City

We are heavy into the local scene as well and unless you have a physical street, phone, address... that will lead you into the Google Places directory, you probably just got bumped to +8th position minimum.

We are seeing local 7-pack for queries that used to provide traffic... and could easily provide general web traffic, but its like Google has taken it upon itself to try and fix the US economy, and turn on some local mojo, spawning more local results.

I suggest getting as many local signals onto your site as you can...

- Add your local phone number
- Add your local address
- Claim your Google places page

If you don't actually have a physical local address... well, I don't know what to suggest. Its ONLY MY OPINION, but I think local serp's (cityname + short or longtail query) are going through a pretty big change right now, putting the focus on brick and mortar businesses. (aka a Brand Signal)

[hermosa]

Yes it is with the local searches we are having a problem. In terms of whether or not my content is crap.....let's put it this way. On the basis of my content, I was retained UNSOLICITED by a major website that operates in our industry to do blogging for them. I now produce articles for them 5 days a week. If my content was crap, I don't think they would have reached out to me and apid me to write for them.

[hermosa]

Google places is a real problem for businesses that are home based. All a prospective client has to do is go into Googlemaps and look you up. They can even see a picture of your residence. It creates a virtually impossible situation for home based businesses, plus who wants people dropping in on you. The Internet is the great leveler but Googlemaps is slowly killing that. I guess the only solution is to get a post office box in a large office tower and use that as your address. More overhead.

[mhansen]

We have had a PO box ($40/year) for several years, and with Google Places, you can setup your business as a "Service" based company that operates in a service area versus your office address.

Also, there are remotely located PO box services you can use if you prefer complete anonymity, but that also comes at the expense of authority and trust. Just like local signals helping your local results, trust signals (phone, address, ssl, transparency) will help as well.

Yes... its an added expense, but in general... if a business cannot account for a $40-$50/year expense, its got bigger issues than just Google.

[FranticFish]

get a post office box

Not in the UK, at least not in my experience. I registered someone with Google Places recently who has had a PO Box on their site as long as they've traded because they work from home. The account was suspended (automatically?) and on logging into the dashboard there was a message saying the PO Box was the reason. We filed a reconsideration request but gave up after 6 weeks and killed the account and re-registered using his consulting rooms as an address. Another six weeks later we got a message from Google saying they'd decided to approve the use of the PO Box address :)

[hermosa]

NO need to be nasty mhansen.

"... a business cannot account for a $40-$50/year expense, its got bigger issues than just Google."

Don't make assusmptions. $40 - $50 a year? Maybe that's what mailboxes cost in your area. The virtual mailboxes in my area in which you end up with a suite number rather than a PO box charge well over $200 a month plus they charge to forward your mail! A remote box won't help. It has to be at the heart of the downtown core to show up high in Googlemaps.

FranticFish, then the PO Box is a very risky move. Even if one uses something like mailboxes etc or UPS store, Google likely be able to figure out it's a maibox with their huge database.

[FranticFish]

@ hermosa I agree; I'd never use one myself. They were heavily abused in the early days of Google Places for exactly the reasons you state, which is why they are flagged now.

[Shatner]

There does seem to be devaluing of blogs. Recently Google News for instance started seperating blogs out from the rest of their news providers... and it doesn't rank them as well as the other sites they carry.

[mhansen]

@Hermosa - Sorry... it was not intended as a personal snipe of any kind. Maybe it came across wrong.

Apologies.

[koan]

Recently Google News for instance started seperating blogs out from the rest of their news providers

Well that's good news. I've always hated the fact that low quality blog sites would be mixed with real news organizations.

[hermosa]

No problem mhansen.

I have reduced the number of tags and categories I have on one of my blog entriess. I'll report back and let you know if it helped.

[Shatner]

>>I've always hated the fact that low quality blog sites would be mixed with real news organizations.

They aren't basing it on quality, they are basing it on whether or not the site calls itself a blog.

Which is stupid.

Blog = website
website = blog

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Blog = website
website = blog

Not really. This would be more accurate...

Blog with moderated comments = website
Blog with registered comments = website
Blog with forums for comments = website
Blog with an open comment system = problematic, website -1.

Vist Google blog search and you'll likely find many forums and many blogger type blogs where logging in with an ID from one of your other services is a must.

Wordpress dominates as far as being the CMS of choice but you'd never know it when visiting Google blog search. Google no likey an open comment system apparently.

[Shatner]

The point being that whether or not something is a blog is kind of irrelevant on the modern web and it's definitely NOT a sign of quality or lack thereof. It's pretty irrelevant.

[MrSavage]

My 2 cents is that blogs made it really simple for the MFA and thin affiliate rubbish sites that Panda was going after. In my opinion, blogs created a whole "spam" issue. Try finding me a non blog website that isn't made up of 75% ads, about 3 sentences of information. So yes, the mighty blog made it easier for the lazy folks to scrape, exploit, monetize in a mass volume. Of course not all blogs fit this category, but again, you won't find me a non blog that is that 75% to 85% ads and 2 sentences on anything OTHER THAN A BLOG.

So Google really should add extra scrutiny to blogs. Websites made too easy is a recipe for spam. Yes they helped create the monster.

edit: I should also add that we all know Google banned an entire domain extension from their index also. Sure they weren't ALL bad websites, but did that matter to Google? No. They all got torched. Blogs = spam in Google's mind? Be afraid, be very afraid.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google should be afraid of losing the loyalty of the websites they built their success upon, not vice versa. Yes, they did ban an entire domain full of blogs but that just scattered the spammers elsewhere and hurt the real webmasters. It's business, Google didn't lose any revenue over that so why should they care?

[tangor]

It's business, Google didn't lose any revenue over that so why should they care?

Sad thing is, they DO CARE, hence Panda and the oddities of YouTube these days. Odd balances offered here and there, strange serps... all in a terrified and desperate grab to maintain any control over the advertising grip they have on the web. Bob Dylan sang it: "The times, they are a-changing" and Google is doing some perplexing things to stay in control...

And failing...

[hermosa]

What domain with bloggers did Google ban? No point writing more content if it's not going to show up.

[tedster]

Looks Like Google Deindexed the CO.CC Subdomains [webmasterworld.com]

[mhansen]

Around 2008, we started using WordPress for all kinds of website building... and as far as I can see, there is no devaluation of the platform itself. We go out of our way to build a logical taxonomy and hierarchy as well...

- Front end for an eCommerce site
- Local B&M Service Companies
- Drop Ship Affiliate
- Local Blog and News

We do see local centric and ecom sites being pushed down in SERPs with more 7-packs showing on a wider range of search queries than ever before. A search for something like (I know this is against charter, delete if needed) vintage clothing now spawns a map and a 7-pack, which it didn't do just a few weeks ago.

We also use our own home-grown CMS and regular old html code for several other sites as well.

[hermosa]

Forgive me but what do you mean by 7-pack? Do you mean that a local search shows a slue of listings from Googlemaps and Google Ad Words, pushing sites that rank naturally further down in the SERPS? That's what I'm seeing.

[mhansen]

Do you mean that a local search shows a slue of listings from Googlemaps and Google Ad Words, pushing sites that rank naturally further down in the SERPS?

Exactly... the 3-7 local businesses from Google Places.

[engine]

@shatner

There does seem to be devaluing of blogs.

Exactly what i've been seeing. The problem is with blogs that I would class as quality, but Google's system does not. I've been trying to find that cutoff and i've not yet been able to confirm it, so would rather not speculate.

[onepointone]

My local vintage clothing search includes a waste processing plant in the 7-pack. Not so sure I want to pick around for clothing there, lol.